Synonyms for faze

Phase and Faze

Phase and faze are homophones (words pronounced alike but different in meaning, derivation, or spelling) that may easily be confused. Despite the similarity in pronunciation, these words bear little semantic resemblance to one another.

Although phase can function as a verb – it is found especially in combinations such as phase out, phase in, and phase into, meaning “to end, begin, etc. in phases” – the word is most commonly encountered as a noun, in which it typically carries a meaning related to steps in a process, cycles, or stages of development (as in “phases of the moon”).

Faze is generally used only as a verb, and means “to daunt or disconcert.” It often appears in negative expressions such as “it didn’t faze her a bit” or “nothing fazes him.”

Did You Know?

Faze is a youngster among English words, relatively speaking; it first appeared in English in the early 1800s. That may not seem especially young, but consider that when faze first showed up in print in English, the works of Shakespeare were already over 200 years old, the works of Chaucer over 400 years old, and the Old English epic Beowulf was at least 800 years old. Faze is an alteration of the now-rare verb "feeze," which has the obsolete sense "to drive (someone or something) away" and which, by the 1400s, was also being used with the meaning "to frighten or put into a state of alarm." Feeze (fesen in Middle English and fēsian in Old English) is first known to have appeared in print in the late 800s, making it older than even the oldest extant copy of Beowulf in manuscript.

Examples of faze in a Sentence

You'll never succeed as a writer if you let a little bit of criticism faze you.
the collapse of part of the scenery didn't faze the actors one bit, and they just carried on

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'faze.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.